Application for Dependent Care Funds
Dependent Care Funds (DCFs) provide financial assistance to scholars who must travel for a professional event or research program to advance their academic careers and who have dependent-care obligations that might otherwise impede such travel. For example, DCF grants may be used to defray the costs of transporting a dependent and/or professional caregiver to a conference location or research site, hiring supplemental dependent care at home while traveling, or arranging for on-site care at a meeting.
There are two Dependent Care Funds for which FAS tenure-track faculty are eligible, and these offer a combined total of up to $2,000 per year in possible funding. DCF awards may also be used in conjunction with the existing benefit offered through the Care@Work Backup Care program, which has services in many U.S. cities and abroad. (For more information on this and other work/life resources, please visit the Work/Life section of Harvard's Human Resources portal.)
To apply to either fund, please submit the above application. The assistant dean for your division or School will review your request and process your application for the FAS DCF first. Once the resources available through the FAS DCF are exhausted, you may apply for FD&D DCF funds. The assistant dean for your division or School will forward your application to FD&D for consideration and processing of the FD&D DCF award. (Since the FD&D DCF also covers elder care, please apply directly to FD&D for reimbursement of those costs - see below). Forms and receipts may be submitted before the event or up to 60 days after the event takes place. The assistant dean for your division or School can answer any questions you may have on which costs are reimbursable.
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The FAS Dependent Care Fund:
FAS tenure-track faculty should first apply to the FAS Dependent Care Fund, which provides assistance with childcare obligations and has a $1,000 funding cap per scholar, per academic year. Applicants may submit more than one request and receive more than one grant within a given academic year, up to the next funding of $1,000 (after required tax withholding) per academic year. Payment will be made as additional compensation through the regular payroll and is considered taxable income by the Internal Revenue Service. The FAS Fund accepts rolling applications throughout the year.
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The FD&D Dependent Care Fund:
The University-wide Dependent Care Fund (FD&D DCF) provides funding to help with caregiving costs for dependent children or adults during short-term professional travel for Harvard ladder faculty (tenured and tenure-track).
Once an FAS tenure-track faculty member has exhausted the resources available through the FAS DCF, additional funding may be available from the Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity (FD&D), which offers a Dependent Care Fund to assist scholars with child care and/or adult dependent care obligations. Eligible faculty members may apply for one FD&D DCF grant within a given academic year, up to a maximum of $1,000 per year. FD&D DCF applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
The deadline for submitting an application to the FD&D fund is June 15 of any year for professional travel that occurred in the same academic year. For example, if your travel was between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023, then the deadline would be June 15, 2023.
For more information on the FAS DCF, please contact the assistant dean for faculty affairs in your division or the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. For more information on the FD&D DCF, please visit www.faculty.harvard.edu or contact Natalie Beaumont-Smith in the Office of Work/Life: (617) 495-5933, natalie_beaumont-smith@harvard.edu.